Tachiyama Mineemon
Encyclopedia
Tachiyama Mineemon was a sumo
wrestler from Toyama City
, Toyama Prefecture
, Japan
. He was the sport's 22nd Yokozuna. He was well known for his extreme strength and skill. He won 99 out of 100 matches from 1909 to 1916 (not counting draws), and also won eleven top division tournament championships (two of them unofficial).
at the insistence of Taisuke Itagaki
and Tsugumichi Saigo. However, he was so strong that most of the wrestlers in the stable were unable to practice with him. Therefore, Hitachiyama Taniemon
became his practical coach. He was promoted to yokozuna in February 1911.
His most feared skill was tsuki, or pushing. On the 3rd day of June 1910 tournament, komusubi Kohitachi Yoshitaro flew over spectators by Tachiyama's thrust and then fell on the 4th line of seats. Kohitachi was wounded and left the tournament. Tachiyama is reported to have waved a shell weighing 400 kg (881.8 lb) with one arm. He was, however, good on the mawashi
as well.
Much taller and stronger than his contemporaries, Tachiyama never had a losing record (make-koshi) in his eighteen year career, and whilst at the yokozuna rank lost only three bouts. He once won 43 bouts in a row, lost one to Nishinoumi Kajirō II
, then won another 56 in a row. If he had not lost that match (which he later admitted was deliberate, to help out his rival yokozuna who was struggling at the time), he would have set an all time record of 100 consecutive wins. As it stands, his second streak of 56 bouts, which began on the 9th day of the January 1912 tournament, is the fifth best in history after Futabayama, Tanikaze, Hakuho
and Umegatani I
.
His run ended on the 8th day of May 1916 tournament, when he was finally defeated by Tochigiyama Moriya
. On the final day of January 1917 tournament, he was defeated by Ōnishiki Uichirō
. Tochigiyama and Ōnishiki were pupils of Hitachiyama. After this second loss, he retired.
In 1917, he said to wrestlers, "I give one bale of rice if you can walk around a Dohyo
shouldering me." A boy, who had not made his debut of the professional sumo yet, acceded to his request. He failed at the first attempt but achieved at the 2nd attempt. After about 15 years, the boy became yokozuna Tamanishiki San'emon
.
His style of dohyo-iri (yokozuna ring entering ceremony) came to be known as shiranui after it was imitated by later yokozuna Haguroyama
. However, he insisted that his style was Unryū Kyūkichi
's style.
His sheer strength and physical presence drew comparisons with Raiden Tameemon, but also meant he was perhaps less popular with the general public than his predecessors Hitachiyama and Umegantani II
.
After retiring from active competition he was briefly an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Azumazeki, but he left the sumo world in May 1919. He became the first yokozuna to perform kanreki dohyō-iri
, in 1937.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 120%"
|-
!
!January
!May
|-
|1903
|East Maegashira #9 (6-3-1)
|East Maegashira #2 (4-4-1-1draw)
|-
|1904
|East Maegashira #2 (7-2-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Maegashira #1 (8-1-1)
|-
|1905
|East Maegashira #1 (7-1-1-1hold)
|East Sekiwake (5-2-2-1draw)
|-
|1906
|East Sekiwake (7-2-1)
|East Sekiwake (4-1-5)
|-
|1907
|East Sekiwake (5-1-3-1draw)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Sekiwake (8-1-1)
|-
|1908
|East Sekiwake (6-2-1-1hold)
|East Sekiwake (7-1-1-1draw)
|-
|1909
|West Sekiwake (6-1-2-1draw)
|West Ōzeki (8-2)*
|-
|1910
|West Ōzeki (6-0-1-2draws-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (9-0-1draw)*
|-
|1911
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (8-0-1draw-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)*
|-
|1912
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (8-1-1draw)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)
|-
|1913
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-0)
|-
|1914
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-0)
|West Yokozuna (8-0-1-1hold)
|-
|1915
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)*
|-
|1916
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (9-1)
|-
|1917
|East Yokozuna (9-1)
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|-
|1918
|bgcolor=gray|retired
!x
|-
{|
| Green Box=Tournament Championship
|}
Sumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...
wrestler from Toyama City
Toyama, Toyama
is the capital city of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in the Chūbu region on central Honshū, about 200 km north of the city of Nagoya and 300 km northwest of Tokyo....
, Toyama Prefecture
Toyama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Hokuriku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Toyama.Toyama is the leading industrial prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, and has the industrial advantage of cheap electricity due to abundant water resources....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He was the sport's 22nd Yokozuna. He was well known for his extreme strength and skill. He won 99 out of 100 matches from 1909 to 1916 (not counting draws), and also won eleven top division tournament championships (two of them unofficial).
Career
Tachiyama joined Tomozuna stableTomozuna stable
The is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tatsunami ichimon or group of stables. It has a long and prestigious history. Its current head coach is former sekiwake Kaiki, who is also a director of the Japan Sumo Association...
at the insistence of Taisuke Itagaki
Itagaki Taisuke
Count was a Japanese politician and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party.- Early life :Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa Domain, , After studies in Kōchi and in Edo, he was appointed as sobayonin to Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Toyoshige,...
and Tsugumichi Saigo. However, he was so strong that most of the wrestlers in the stable were unable to practice with him. Therefore, Hitachiyama Taniemon
Hitachiyama Taniemon
Hitachiyama Taniemon was a sumo wrestler from Mito, Ibaragi Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 19th Yokozuna from 1903 till 1914. His great rivalry with Umegatani Tōtarō II created the "Ume-Hitachi Era" and did much to popularise sumo...
became his practical coach. He was promoted to yokozuna in February 1911.
His most feared skill was tsuki, or pushing. On the 3rd day of June 1910 tournament, komusubi Kohitachi Yoshitaro flew over spectators by Tachiyama's thrust and then fell on the 4th line of seats. Kohitachi was wounded and left the tournament. Tachiyama is reported to have waved a shell weighing 400 kg (881.8 lb) with one arm. He was, however, good on the mawashi
Mawashi
In sumo, a mawashi is the belt that the rikishi wears during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi as part of the ring entry ceremony or dohyo-iri.-Mawashi:...
as well.
Much taller and stronger than his contemporaries, Tachiyama never had a losing record (make-koshi) in his eighteen year career, and whilst at the yokozuna rank lost only three bouts. He once won 43 bouts in a row, lost one to Nishinoumi Kajirō II
Nishinoumi Kajiro II
Nishinoumi Kajirō II was a sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 25th Yokozuna.- Career :Nishinoumi was promoted to the top makuuchi division in May 1906. He was awarded a yokozuna licence by the house of Yoshida Tsukasa in February 1916 after winning a championship at January 1916 tournament...
, then won another 56 in a row. If he had not lost that match (which he later admitted was deliberate, to help out his rival yokozuna who was struggling at the time), he would have set an all time record of 100 consecutive wins. As it stands, his second streak of 56 bouts, which began on the 9th day of the January 1912 tournament, is the fifth best in history after Futabayama, Tanikaze, Hakuho
Hakuho Sho
is a professional sumo wrestler from Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Making his debut in March 2001, he reached the top makuuchi division in May 2004. On May 30, 2007 at the age of 22 he became the second native of Mongolia, and the fourth non-Japanese overall, to be promoted to the highest rank in sumo,...
and Umegatani I
Umegatani Totaro I
Umegatani Tōtarō was a sumo wrestler from Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 15th Yokozuna. He was generally regarded as the strongest wrestler to emerge since the era of Tanikaze and Raiden.-Career:...
.
His run ended on the 8th day of May 1916 tournament, when he was finally defeated by Tochigiyama Moriya
Tochigiyama Moriya
Tochigiyama Moriya was the 27th Yokozuna in sumo wrestling from 1918 till 1925. Generally he is considered one of the pioneers of modern sumo. He is the lightest yokozuna with a weight of 104 kg...
. On the final day of January 1917 tournament, he was defeated by Ōnishiki Uichirō
Onishiki Uichiro
Ōnishiki Uichirō was a sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 26th Yokozuna. On November 2, 1922, he became the first yokozuna to perform Yokozuna Dohyo-iri at the Meiji Shrine.-Career:...
. Tochigiyama and Ōnishiki were pupils of Hitachiyama. After this second loss, he retired.
In 1917, he said to wrestlers, "I give one bale of rice if you can walk around a Dohyo
Dohyo
thumb|A dohyōThe dohyō is the ring in which sumo wrestling bouts are held. A modern dohyo is a circle of rice-straw bales 4.55 meters in diameter, mounted on a square platform of clay 6.7m on a side, and 34 to 60 cm high. The surface is covered by sand.A new dohyō is built prior to each...
shouldering me." A boy, who had not made his debut of the professional sumo yet, acceded to his request. He failed at the first attempt but achieved at the 2nd attempt. After about 15 years, the boy became yokozuna Tamanishiki San'emon
Tamanishiki San'emon
Tamanishiki San'emon was a sumo wrestler from Kōchi, Japan. He was the sport's 32nd Yokozuna. He won a total of nine top division yusho or tournament championships from 1929 to 1936, and was the dominant wrestler in sumo until the emergence of Futabayama...
.
His style of dohyo-iri (yokozuna ring entering ceremony) came to be known as shiranui after it was imitated by later yokozuna Haguroyama
Haguroyama Masaji
Haguroyama Masaji was a sumo wrestler from Nakanokuchi, Niigata, Japan. He was the sport's 36th yokozuna. He was a yokozuna for a period of twelve years and three months dating from his promotion to that rank in May 1941 until his retirement in September 1953, which is an all-time record...
. However, he insisted that his style was Unryū Kyūkichi
Unryu Kyukichi
Unryū Kyūkichi was a sumo wrestler from Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 10th Yokozuna.-Career:...
's style.
His sheer strength and physical presence drew comparisons with Raiden Tameemon, but also meant he was perhaps less popular with the general public than his predecessors Hitachiyama and Umegantani II
Umegatani Totaro II
Umegatani Tōtarō II was a sumo wrestler from Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 20th Yokozuna. Umegatani had a great rivalry with yokozuna Hitachiyama Taniemon...
.
After retiring from active competition he was briefly an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Azumazeki, but he left the sumo world in May 1919. He became the first yokozuna to perform kanreki dohyō-iri
Kanreki dohyo-iri
In sumo wrestling, a kanreki dohyō-iri is a ring-entering ceremony performed by a former yokozuna in celebration of his 60th birthday . If he is a toshiyori , the ceremony is usually held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, the main sumo hall in Tokyo. Otherwise, if retired, at another location...
, in 1937.
Top division record
- Two championships before establishment of yusho system in 1909 are not admitted officially
- There was no fusensho system until March 1927
- All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day until 1909
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 120%"
|-
!
!January
!May
|-
|1903
|East Maegashira #9 (6-3-1)
|East Maegashira #2 (4-4-1-1draw)
|-
|1904
|East Maegashira #2 (7-2-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Maegashira #1 (8-1-1)
|-
|1905
|East Maegashira #1 (7-1-1-1hold)
|East Sekiwake (5-2-2-1draw)
|-
|1906
|East Sekiwake (7-2-1)
|East Sekiwake (4-1-5)
|-
|1907
|East Sekiwake (5-1-3-1draw)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Sekiwake (8-1-1)
|-
|1908
|East Sekiwake (6-2-1-1hold)
|East Sekiwake (7-1-1-1draw)
|-
|1909
|West Sekiwake (6-1-2-1draw)
|West Ōzeki (8-2)*
|-
|1910
|West Ōzeki (6-0-1-2draws-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (9-0-1draw)*
|-
|1911
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (8-0-1draw-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)*
|-
|1912
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (8-1-1draw)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)
|-
|1913
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-0)
|-
|1914
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-0)
|West Yokozuna (8-0-1-1hold)
|-
|1915
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-0)*
|-
|1916
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (9-1)
|-
|1917
|East Yokozuna (9-1)
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|-
|1918
|bgcolor=gray|retired
!x
|-
- tournament actually held one month later than listed.
- The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.
- A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament (usually due to injury)
- an X signifies the wrestler had yet to reach the top division at that point in his career or a tournament after he retired
{|
| Green Box=Tournament Championship
|}
See also
- Glossary of sumo termsGlossary of sumo termsThe following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. azukari : Hold. A kind of draw. After a mono-ii, the gyōji or the shimpan "holds" the result if it was too close to call...
- List of past sumo wrestlers
- List of sumo tournament winners
- List of Yokozuna